Giant tech company Apple Inc. (AAPL) is holding talks with China based battery manufacturing companies CATL Ltd. (SHE: 30075) and BYD (SHE: 002594) concerning supplying of batteries for its electric vehicles.
Sources directly involved in the matter revealed this development further saying the discussions are subject to changes and at the moment it’s too early to assume that Apple will strike a deal with either CATL or BYD.
The sources who declined being revealed said that Apple has a condition in the deal that the supplier must have a manufacturing facility in the United States.
CATL is the battery supplier of leading electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. (TSLA). The company has been reluctant on setting up a manufacturing facility in the United states citing uncertainty and tensions between China and the U.S since the two world’s largest economies have been having escalated trade disputes for years now.
CATL is the world’s largest battery manufacturer while BYD sits fourth on the list. Apple prefers using lithium iron phosphate batteries because they are cheaper to produce since they use iron instead of nickel and cobalt which are more expensive.
For some while now the IPhone manufacture has been working on autonomous vehicles. The company is aiming to begin production of passenger vehicle in 2024.
